Petoskey's Corey, a four-year starter in goal, not afraid of any pressure on the pitch

PETOSKEY — Sadie Corey loves pressure moments.

While a lot of keepers might feel the goal posts collapsing in on them in high-pressure situations, Corey is built for it.

That includes shootouts with the game on the line.

“It’s very fun to go through because you save this one, then the other girl saves that one, it’s back and forth,” Corey said. “It’s hard, but it’s super fun being in that positon.”

Corey might be about the only keeper to describe a shootout as “fun” but she’s wired for the position.

A year ago, she found herself in a shootout in Petoskey’s Division 2 district championship game. Corey was up for that moment, though Petoskey eventually fell to the Blue Devils in a 2-1 shootout final.

Petoskey's Sadie Corey makes a diving attempt at a ball last season in net. She'll be a huge piece back this year for the Northmen as a four-year starter in goal.

It was a situation that even Gaylord coach Chris Adams described as “ruthless”, knowing the kind of pressure a shootout brings.

But, even still.

“I had so much fun being in the shootout, it just sucks losing,” Corey said.

Does it add some motivation for this season? You bet it does.

“It at least motivates me pretty hard,” she added. “I plan on not losing to Gaylord and hopefully being undefeated this year.”

From Petoskey coach Zach Jonker’s perspective, watching from the sidelines, he felt for Corey, who went on to earn second team all-state in Division 2 last season.

“You feel bad for everyone involved in those situations, but especially the goal keeper,” Jonker said. “There’s nothing she could have done, they were just perfectly placed shots. That result didn’t define how much fun we had last year and how successful the season was.”

Petoskey's Sadie Corey is the kind of player teams build around, even if it's someone all the way back in net.

When Corey set a goal of being undefeated, it’s really not as crazy as it sounds. The Northmen went 13-3-3 last season, starting out the season with six consecutive shutouts and a 7-0 record. They went on to win the Big North with a 7-1-3 record and totaled 11 shutouts for the season.

“One of my goals is to have more shutouts than last year and I just want us to be undefeated this year,” Corey added, touching on that undefeated word once again.

As a four-year returning starter in net, can you knock Corey’s confidence? That’s a no.

“Having a four-year returning starter in goal, everything we do builds from the back, so that’s huge knowing we’ve got that consistency there,” Jonker said. “There’s been a really nice progression for her. Not only in her ability in goal, but in her tactical awareness. You saw it last year when we won the league and a lot of that was on the back of her, not only making some big saves throughout the season, but really organizing our backline. Her distribution continues to improve as well.”

Corey is the third member of her family to work through the PHS girls soccer program, following MaCayla and Aubrey, both standouts during their time.

In watching them and playing a couple years with Audrey, Sadie picked up on the importance of playing as a team, something she believes this group does well.

“No negativity and just always being positive and working as a team. Just have fun. Soccer is a huge team sport and we all just have to come together,” she said. “I feel like we’re a really good team at that this year and we’ve all been playing tougher since we were young.”

Petoskey's Sadie Corey earned second team all-state honors last season and is back to lead a loaded lineup of players for the reigning Big North champs.

Along with Corey, Petoskey brings back the likes of Annika Gandhi, Madylin Smith, Clara Mailloux and Haidyn Wegmann up top, Lily Premo and Brynn Jonker in the midfield and Abby Wonnacott on the back end, all key pieces, among others.

As a four-sport athlete, also competing in track during the spring, Corey has earned previous district titles with both the volleyball and basketball teams at Petoskey.

In 2024-25, she’ll try to meet head on the pressure of adding one on the soccer field.

“It’s really cool that she’s been able to help all these other teams at the high school have a ton of success, between volleyball, basketball and track,” Jonker added. “She’s what it’s all about as far as being a high school student athlete.”

That pressure is certainly something she won't be backing down from.

Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Behind Corey, Petoskey soccer ready to rewrite district ending in 2025

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